Five Days Apart

by Chris Binchy

Book Overview

In bestselling Irish author Chris Binchy's first U.S. publication, a lifelong Dublin friendship is strained to breaking when two young men fall in love with the same unforgettable woman. The Irish Independent Review has called Binchy's writing "wide-ranging, complex, profound, and very satisfying," and this classic tale of friendship and romance is a perfect showcase of his formidable talent.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0061704369
• ISBN13: 9780061704369
• Release Date: August 2011
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.47 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Clean, clear writing of two friends; one a popular charmer, the other smart and moving up the ladder

The simple, clean writing style makes for a relaxing read. This book is more about character development than action, but there are interesting plot turns and I really cared about all the characters who were all so real to me. The story reminded me of what happens to the popular boy (who got by on his charms) grows up versus that of his quiet, smart friend who the girls hardly noticed.

fresh, insightful, humorous and thoroughly enjoyable

Five Days Apart is fresh, insightful, humorous and thoroughly enjoyable. With the lightest touch Chris Binchy draws you into the life of David, a young graduate in love with his best friend's girlfriend. The story is set in Dublin, Ireland...and Binchy's portrayal of young Dubliners if very real...the dialogue, the people, the lifestyles....all so familiar but so beautifully told. It is a deceptively simple, really quite sophisticated novel that has stayed with me long after I finished reading it. I've read Chris Binchy's 3 other novels...all of which I've loved.

Nice, quick read.

I'm not sure how to classify this book, but I would kind of say it is the male version of women's fiction...men's fiction, maybe? I normally don't read books from a male perspective but I really enjoyed David. I kind of relate to David, I am a very shy person and I often find myself tongue tied or saying random, bizarre things just to make conversation. It can be really awkward, so I just keep to myself much like David did after his friend Alex betrayed him. I found David to be quite charming and Alex to be quite a tool, so I was shocked that Camille couldn't see past Alex's "charming" ways and see that David was the good guy here. I definitely think Alex broke man code because he knew how David felt, however, as the story progressed they repaired their friendship and kind of became a tight-knit group of three (triple? threesome? triangle?). I found the Brazil section to be misplaced and I felt that it didn't add anything to the overall story. It wasn't a long enough passage to leave an impact, I was kind of expecting the Brazil trip to be half of the story. Since it wasn't that long, I would have preferred Binchy to leave it out. I was quite pleased with the ending, though a bit sudden, I was happy for David in the end. It was a nice quick book to read and I would definitely enjoy more "men's fiction" like this in the future!

A monochromatic bromance novel (3.5 stars)

What happens to two decades of friendship when two good-looking college buddies with opposite personality traits who have come to depend on each other for mutual support fall for the same woman? Should finder's keeper rule, or should the "better" man prevail? This "bromance" novel is narrated by David and is, therefore, told from his point of view. David was the first to make eye contact with Camille, but being the shy, introverted, and socially awkward one, he initially let gregarious Alex do all the work for him -- striking up conversations with her, getting her name and phone number, introducing him to her. Should it come as a surprise then that Alex made more of an impression on Camille than David? At the end of a subsequent get-together one evening, David walked in on Alex and Camille making lovey-dovey moves. Silently furious, David walked out on them. When he and Alex next caught up with each other, David accused Alex of stealing Camille from him, but Alex tried to explain that Camille wasn't even aware of David's interest in her, that she was the one who initiated the moves, and that they both had just realized they had fallen for each other. Distraught, David tried to shut both Alex and Camille out of his life, but that didn't last for long. Realizing that he might not want to throw away 20 years of friendship with Alex, he decided to reconcile with Alex, who had persisted in reaching out to him, assuring him that Camille wasn't just a fling like the many ones David had known Alex to have had. But did David really put his friendship with Alex above his strong feelings for Camille, like he had thought Alex should have done for him? Could David really trust Alex to love Camille the way he would have? Would he ever let Camille know his love for her? Would his friendship with Alex really survive? The turn of events that leads us to the somewhat abrupt ending had me telling myself: Hmmm ... I think I can accept that resolution. With such a promising plot, this novel could have been a really compelling one had the writing and storytelling, in my opinion, been less flat and monochromatic. By this I mean, instead of every other encounter starting with repetitive and dull pleasantries such as "I haven't seen or heard from you for a long time. How are you?", maybe the author could have conjured up something more imaginative? Also, I can understand the intense longing that David has for Camille, but could we enliven things up a little bit and have the characters show a wider range of emotions? Finally, given that mixed signals and misconstruals were important plot elements in this novel, I thought that letting David, Alex, and perhaps even Camille take turns sharing their own intimate thoughts with the readers, relating how certain incidents might or might not have impacted them personally, in a point-counterpoint style could add texture to the story. Some authors (for example, Peter Hedges in The Heights) have used this interesting